I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Here's AV and I's belated present to you all. We hope you enjoy.
Diana wasn't certain which was worse: having to hide out from the rest of the world as it was taken over, or the place in which she was hiding out was constantly trying to make her see strange and rather disturbing things.
She had tried exploring this House of Mystery—against Zatanna's advice admittingly—but every time she entered a new room, she found herself watching some strange world in which she could not interfere. A werewolf mauling innocent people had been one of the earlier episodes and every punch she had thrown at it had merely passed through it like it had been an apparition.
The same had happened to the others as well. The dead rising from the grave to trap innocents in a decrepit barn; a freak storm that caused people to become murderous maniacs; a little girl's birthday party going horribly wrong—Flash refused to say how, to which Diana was grateful—were just a few such stories.
Not all of them were horrible. Diana had seen a touching reunion of a family separated by unthinkable circumstances. There was a tale of a balloon's journey through the world and its experiences as well. It was just that the visions tended to have some negative quality to them.
So the Justice League found themselves keeping to a sitting room. They hadn't tried venturing from it in the event this strange house tried to show them another bizarre tale. While they were content to stay in the room, Diana could sense impatience. Seeing as it wasn't coming from the others, she felt it was coming from the house itself. It wanted to tell another story and wanted someone to oblige it.
It was going to have to wait for a long time if the Amazon had it her way.
"That hard-headed jerk!" a voice seemed to echo from outside of the sitting room, coupled with the approaching steps of high-heeled shoes. Standing behind an old, green couch, Diana looked to the room's entrance. Flash did the same from his seat on the couch, Superman and John turning from where they stood in front of a fireplace, a fire burning within it.
The door flew open and Zatanna came storming in, a sour look on her face. The feeling of impatience had vanished once she had, which made Diana wonder how Zatanna did that. It couldn't have been a coincidence that feeling disappeared the moment the dark-haired woman appeared. "I should of freaking known," she continued to grumble to herself, seemingly unaware of the League's presence. "When am I ever going to learn?"
"Sister?" Diana called out, which didn't seem to reach the magician. The dark-haired woman just went right up to a little cabinet in which decanters of alcohol sat. Grabbing one of the decanters, she popped the top off and poured some of its contents into a glass. She tossed it down in one swig, swallowing as she tilted her head back to seemingly stare up at the ceiling. After a moment, she poured another, but didn't immediately imbibe.
"Zatanna?" Superman tried, his voice louder than Diana's previous hail. This at least caused the magician to tilt her head to one side to glance at the Man of Steel over her shoulder. "What's going on?"
Zatanna turned around, leaning back against the cabinet, one hand pressing on top of it while the other wrapped around her drink glass, though she never raised it up. "I finally found Bruce," she told them. "He's with Dr. Fate."
Diana felt relief. He had gotten off the Watchtower, thank Hera. "And J'onn?" she asked.
The dark-haired woman looked to her, seemingly startled by the question before answering absently, "He's with Bruce too."
"Best news we've heard so far," Flash remarked. "So where are those guys?"
Promptly, Zatanna raised up her glass and tossed the alcohol down much like her first drink. This time, however, she slammed the glass down on the cabinet, a sharp thud ringing out. "The jerk went to go fight Despero," she spat out. "He had the damn gall to have Dr. Fate tell me to bugger off."
Clearly, Zatanna was mad, but Diana knew what the reason for it was. She was quite well aware that Bruce and Zatanna had known each other for some time, even tried to be romantically involved at one point. At the heart of Zatanna's anger was her concern for Bruce, something she could relate to at one time. Bruce had a habit of placing himself in the most dangerous of situations when there were others he could rely on. It was an infuriating quality of his.
Based on the magician's anger, she must have been really scared for him. Diana could not blame her. Despero had shown himself to be a formidable opponent, one with the potential to destroy a planet—in fact, he wanted to destroy Earth. Couple that with Despero's raw strength and his incredible telepathic powers and it made one wonder what a normal man like Bruce could do to stand a chance.
The Amazon would be lying if she said she didn't feel the same way as her Sister.
"Then it's time we got into action too," John declared then. "We can't just sit on our hands and wait for this to be over."
"But what can we do?" Flash countered. "I mean, I'm all for kicking some butt, but we need to know what we're doing. I want out of this spooky house as much as anyone, but we can't just go all half-cocked."
Diana had to do a double-take. Such prudence coming from Flash was entirely unexpected. His impulsiveness was well-known; to hear him advocate for patience was completely unlike him. Was this a result of the League's split, or his time spent with Bruce?
It seemed the others felt the same way as John and Superman gave the red-clad man odd looks. "Flash is right," Zatanna confirmed. "And Bruce didn't tell me if there was anything we can do—which I'm going to have a long talk with him when I see his jerk face again. He can't protect me forever."
That last part had been spoken so softly, Diana was certain it wasn't meant for any of the others to hear. Her hearing had allowed her to pick up on it though, and it made her wonder what the story behind that was. Zatanna had proven herself quite capable since they had met; yet, Bruce being protective of her seemed strange on its face. She could see him not trusting someone in the beginning before delegating tasks.
John suddenly took a step forward. "We might not have a choice. I'm getting reports through my ring that the Kalanorians have arrived."
"Perfect," Flash grumbled. "On top of the Thanagarians locking down the world too. What else can go wrong?"
"What can we do in such a situation?" Diana pointed out. "Surely the Thanagarains will go fight the Kalanorians. Then there's the Defense Shield Generator. We don't even know how close to completion it is."
"I don't know about the generator, but I can confirm the fighting has started," John replied. "There's a battle going on between them with the Green Lantern Corp along for the ride." His face darkened. "It also sounds like they're having a hell of a time."
"Then we have to help them," Superman declared.
"How?" Flash asked. "I'd love to, but the only one here that can breathe in space is GL. We don't have the Watchtower or the Javelin to help out."
Diana could see the Kryptonian's shoulders slump. She had done the same. Flash was correct, they had no means of fighting in space. If the fighting actually entered Earth's atmosphere, maybe they could do something, but they were largely confined. No doubt the Thanagarians would have made certain no spaceships were available to Earth's population after proclaiming martial law.
Except for…
"What about the Tamaraneans?" Diana suggested. "They have ships. Maybe we could use one."
"After that big fight we just had? Twice?" Flash responded skeptically.
"It's at least something we can do," Superman replied. "It's better than just sitting here while others fight."
That gave the speedster something to consider. "I guess so. Worst thing they can say is no, right?"
"Then let's go," John said before looking to Zatanna. "You coming with?"
"You bet your ass I am," the magician confirmed. Holding up her hands, she then added, "One trip to New Tamaran, coming right up."
The battle had long lost conformity and was now pure chaos, much like war was wont to do. Gone were the clear divisions of Thanagarian, Kalanorian, and Green Lanterns. What remained were the sides intermingled with each other.
The largest ships had begun firing upon anything and everything. Explosions rocked the space-faring vessels as smaller fighter ships were utterly destroyed. Unfortunately, some Green Lanterns were caught up in the explosions, their rings streaking across the abyss of space and heading to find their next wearers.
Oh, there were still positions that were predominately one side or the other. Thanagar still held a defensive line in front of Earth and Kalanor still claimed the outer reaches of space. It was everything in-between that was a mess.
The flanking maneuver Ganthet had called for never materialized. The main reason was the Kalanorians unleashing a wave of powerful fighters, ones cloaked in a mysterious power that were a match for even the Green Lantern power rings. Constructs formed by will were miraculously overwhelmed, something that should have never happened. It was truly baffling.
That said, the power rings were not completely useless.
As one of the specially-powered Kalanorians closed in on the Guardian, he fired a blast of the purple flames. Ganthet's will glowed brightly around him and he slid to one side. Raising up a hand, he slapped it against the side of the attack, forcing it in a new direction. There was a slight stinging sensation to his palm, but it was nothing he could not live with. As for the Kalanorian's attack, it was redirected towards one of its own allies, a ship that was currently firing a barrage of missiles. The blast struck it from behind, causing it to explode as it was engulfed with flames.
By then, the Kalanorian had closed the distance between him and the Guardian. Having never removed his gaze from this foe, Ganthet held up a hand towards him. In an instant, his aura rushed out towards the Kalanorian, becoming an incredible blast. It swallowed the man whole.
The Kalanorian screamed as he stopped his approach, his body flung backwards, yet held in place. Pieces of his armor ripped off of his body, being cast behind him until he was completely nude. Then his skin peeled off, followed by muscle and sinew until only his skeleton remained, frozen in pain.
The very same happened to another Kalanorian further back, one that just happened to be caught up in the wave. That was two of these special Kalanorians dealt with, only an entire division left to deal with.
"RaaaaAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Hearing the yell, Ganthet spun around, seeing another Kalanorian rushing towards him, holding some sort of staff over his head. He swung it down, attempting to strike the little blue man on the head.
In response, Ganthet raised a hand and formed a small shield construct, one that only seemed to cover the full expanse of his hand. The staff struck it a moment later, successfully stopped.
With his other hand, Ganthet pointed it right at the Kalanorian's chest. A large spike construct erupted from his palm and pierced right into the man's body, running him through as it exited out his back. Blood erupted from his foe's mouth as he gagged, his body soon going still. Curiously, the purple flame that surrounded him wavered and vanished.
Suddenly, an incredible blast raced right in front of Ganthet. He actually flinched back from it before he turned his head to follow where it was going. A large Thanagarian cruiser took the brunt of the plasma beam, part of it shearing off before it detonated, erupting into an incredible explosion.
Snapping his head back the other way, Ganthet found the source of the beam. One of the Kalanorian destroyers was close by, a multitude of cannon mouths present on its surface.
"I see a Kalanorian destroyer!" Ganthet announced over his ring. "Something must be done about it!"
He received an immediate response. "On it!" several Lanterns proclaimed, and Ganthet saw streaks of green rushing towards the ship. As long as they rendered the weapons inoperable, whatever threat the ship stood for would be removed.
While it was something he could have dealt with, his attention was immediately turned to one of the Kalanorian missile launcher ships. It seemed one had noticed him and turned to face him. Missiles fired from it, racing towards the Guardian. In an instant, Ganthet formed a shield construct, a bubble that surrounded him on all sides. Moments later, the missiles struck the construct, exploding into flames.
The entire time, Ganthet felt a dull sensation in his head. That was all of the feedback his ring provided him as the force of the explosions never damaged his shield to the point of overwhelming it.
The flames died down soon enough, replaced only by smoke. Extending his will, he blew the smoke away even as it thinned and dissipated it, revealing the missile launcher ship to his view. "Out of missiles, I see," Ganthet remarked. "That is an unfortunately situation for—"
"Ganthet, look out!" the voice of Katma Tui screamed.
Before he could respond, pain seared into Ganthet back, predominantly to his left shoulder. The Guardian cried out as he lurched forward, turning to see what had stuck him. He was momentarily distracted by blood floating into his view.
His blood to be exact.
As distracting as that was, he spotted the flame-encased Kalanorian further behind it. He held a staff, much like the previous one, but unlike that one, purple flames erupted out of one end of the staff, forming a crude blade. It was quite clear that this weapon was what had caused the pain he felt and the blood that flowed out of his body.
His first instinct was to raise his left hand to defend himself. However, the moment his arms moved, pain screamed through his shoulder, and he was unable to follow through with the action. Gasping from the pain, he soon felt alarmed as the Kalanorian thrust his bladed weapon at him, a second attack that was heading right for his face.
The blade was stopped as a green wall suddenly formed between the two combatants. It was a moment of relief for Ganthet, even as the purple, flame-like blade began to pierce right through the construct. It was still slow enough that he could drift out of its way safely.
Not that he needed to. Katma came flying in, forming her own staff construct. The Kalanorian warrior seemed to sense her as he suddenly jerked his head towards her. Pulling his bladed staff away from the wall construct, he held it up defensively as Katma swung her staff construct, the shafts colliding with each other. Her teeth barred, she pushed against her foe, slowly pushing him backwards.
Then the warrior had enough. Letting out a war cry, he shoved back, pushing Katma away. Immediately pulling his staff to his side, he held it so that its bladed end pointed towards Katma, thrusting it towards her as soon as he could.
Expertly, Katma blocked the first stab, then the second. Over and over, the Kalanorian kept thrusting at her, the red-skinned woman using her staff to block it every time.
Then she countered. After blocking yet another thrust, she suddenly extended out her ring hand and fired a thin beam, one that struck the Kalanorian between the eyes. The man yelped as he flinched from the attack, one Ganthet realized was a distraction. Lashing out with her staff, she knocked the bladed staff out of the man's hands, sending it spinning through space. Curiously enough, the blade seemed to short out the moment the staff was no longer in the grasp of its user.
Then Katma rammed one end of her staff into the throat of the Kalanorian. Immediately, the warrior gagged, his hands shooting up to grasp his neck. Drawing her construct back, she then swung it across her body, nailing the man against his head. The blow snapped his head to one side, his body going limp almost immediately. Katma stared the Kalanorian down until she was certain he was unconscious. Only then did she allow her staff construct to vanish and then turned his attention to Ganthet.
"Are you alright?" she demanded as she drew closer to him, maneuvering around the Guardian to see his back. "You need medical attention immediately."
"I have survived worse," Ganthet reassured her, even as the woman poked and prodded his injury. "We must continue forward. These warriors of Despero are quite formidable and we have yet to encounter his planet-destroying cannon."
"And you cannot continue fighting until your wound is dressed and no longer bleeding," Katma countered. "Not even will can keep a man fighting when they have no more blood to lose."
That was a fair statement. He honestly could not argue the logic. "I will remove myself from the fighting for medical attention," he relinquished. "As long as you continue pushing forward."
"I assure you we will," she reassured him. "As long…as…"
Ganthet noticed her trailing off. A moment later and there was an explosion, one with enough force to actually push against them. Turning to face it, Ganthet noticed the Thanagarian line protecting Earth had a large explosion interrupting it. Between it and the planet, there were purple streaks heading right for Earth's atmosphere.
The Kalanorians had broken through.
Returning back to Jump only took a little longer to do than going to Las Vegas. For one, Raven didn't have the energy to do such a long stretch of distance. Second, there was a good chance they were real high up on Thanagar's shit list, so not driving like a maniac ought to hide their movements.
Lastly, no one really had anything to say about what went down. You would think with their recent history, there would be a lot less silence here, but seeing those robots voluntarily sacrifice themselves without a second thought was the kind of thing to really put the smackdown on teenaged ego.
There had been an effort to see about, you know, salvaging anything, but the sludge that was all that was left of Monster Boy was not easy to shift through. A token effort was made, but then some nosy Thanagarians showed up and it was mutually decided to get out of town while standing over a bunch of unconscious bodies.
The Drake house looked so boring and mundane, especially after a trip to Vegas. Yet, it was far more welcoming than some of the lights in the city, both Jump and Vegas. It was a shame there wasn't a good view in the area. The tower would have been a welcomed sight as well, even if it was in enemy hands.
Cyborg had to tell himself this was only short term. It wasn't going to last forever. Once someone got their head on straight and grew a pair, this martial law was going to end and he would run alongside any who chose to fight.
Once in the safety of the garage, and the sliding down shut, only then did the assembled teens get out and trudge back into the house.
Of all the things he had been expecting, though to be honest after Vegas he hadn't been expecting much, finding both Red and Wonder Girl blatantly not looking at each while trying to be as far away from one another in the living room was not it. They looked like two awkward teens trying to confess to one another, but neither could get the guts to do so.
Thankfully, Beast Boy's difficulty with reading the atmosphere helped to get the ball rolling. "Um, what's up with you two?"
"Nothing," both of the absent Titans answered, and in stereo too.
Now, if there was one thing that could get through teen angst, it was teen humiliation, and like sharks smelling blood in the water, the bait was taken.
"You sure?" Kid Flash was at Wonder Girl's side in an instant. "You aren't looking at Red, or anybody."
"Drop it," Wonder Girl said through gritted teeth. The speedster was lucky that she wasn't wearing her armor, though whether the strength she had vanished with it was a question so far unanswered.
Looking exhausted, Raven glanced between the pair. With a sigh, she bluntly said, "You're both embarrassed. Get it out of the way and talk so that this isn't a dragged out process."
"It's none of anyone's business, so drop it." Dang, that was almost a snarl. What had happened and was whatever it was the reason why Red had gone all radio silent? Now he had to know, you know, because it was the principle of the thing.
The TV was on, but Red's folks were nowhere to be seen. Probably went to bed, those two. That meant there would be no last second rescue. Red and WG were at their mercy.
As the TV and whatever it was showing was ignored, Cyborg casually said, "I think it might be. Red was in the middle of giving us some ideas for the big Vegas brawl when he stopped responding. Who knows, it might have put us all in danger, and I think we deserve an explanation."
While you couldn't defend Beast Boy when it came to reading the atmosphere, you had to give him props for being able to pick up on a prompt. "Yeah. We were putting our lives on the line! I mean, it has to be really important if you couldn't be bothered to be our man in the chair."
WG over there really wore her heart on her sleeve—when she cared to have any—and her body was still as stone. Red was pointedly looking anywhere that happened to not have people standing. Time to dig the knife a little deeper.
"Your silence is just begging to be broken, you two," he crooned, sidling closer to Red. Let Kid Flash risk his life with the warrior princess over there. "Come on, I hear confession heals the soul, or something like that."
"Come on, guys, it's not really that important," Terra tried to argue. "I'm sure there's a good reason."
"I'm sure there is too," Cyborg agreed. "And shouldn't good reasons be told? Why keep it to themselves?"
"Like they're trying to hide it," BB picked up "Don't you, like, try to hide bad stuff?"
"Like a radiation emitter that can turn a whole city into monkeys?" Kid Flash unwittingly strengthened their argument.
Terra, however, frowned. "When did that happen?"
The speedster in yellow was suddenly at the lithe blonde's side. "Oh, it's a big story with action, suspense, mystery, and yours truly as the star. It's long, but I'll do my best to keep it short. So it starts with me coming back to the past, but I accidentally put in the wrong coordinates and end up in the thirty-first century instead of the twenty-first century, as you do. Anyway—"
That was getting off topic.
"That's old news. This is new news. So come on, guys, it can't be that bad," the cybernetic teen resumed the interrogation. Was this a little mean to do? Yeah, it was. But after everything that went down in Vegas, there was a desperate need to get some kind of normalcy back, and some ribbing was what the doctor ordered.
Red glanced at him from the corner of his eye, then just as quickly looked away. Wait, hold on, were his cheeks red? A quick scan gave away the rush of blood to the cheeks. Oh man, whatever the "lovebirds" here were hiding, it was too irresistible to just leave alone. What happened? They were going to have to crack some time. They—
There was an alert that suddenly took up all the vision in his robotic eye. Of course, it had to go off now…what was it for again? Grumbling, he pulled away from Red's side with a scowl and engaged the alert.
Oh. Oh boy.
Something was entering the atmosphere—again. This time, he was sure that it wasn't Kori's wicked sister. What the hell was it this time?
"We got another breach in the atmosphere," he announced, killing the mood.
As if a switch was flipped, "What is it?" Red asked, all in business mode. Then, amending himself, "Who is it?"
"What, are we getting invaded again?" Green Bean asked, looking from Cyborg to Red and back.
Oh, please, do not let that be it. That could only be bad news since there was an invasion force heading their way, and it was already confirmed not to be friendly.
So naturally, on the ignored TV, breaking news flashed on. It grab their attention, and sure enough, Kalanorian ships were making their grand arrival. It put him on edge, because the last time ships like that showed up, he ended up a cyborg. Now those bastards were back for round two.
"The Kalanorian armada, they've broken through the defensive lines," Kori stated. "Thanagar has failed to keep its promises."
Yeah, like that Defense Shield Generator thing they were building in China. Why the hell wasn't that thing already turned on?
"So what are we going to do?" Raven cut in before anyone could begin wailing in despair, or anything else like that. She turned to Red, her eyes laser focused on him.
Red took the scrutiny well, standing straighter. "It's going to be ugly out there. The Thanagarians are going to go after them unless they have some different plan. Wherever the League is hiding, they won't stay there for long. There's going to be a fight, no buts about it. The only question is, are we going to join?"
Blue eyes looked over all of them, and Cyborg met the gaze. The memories of the last Kalanorian Invasion would not stop running through his head, though that was mainly his personal memories, and not something backed up in his robotic half. He wasn't that kid anymore, pissed off at his dad and mom, and having the worst luck running into some mind-controlled goons with alien weapons.
He was Cyborg now, and he bet he could take whatever those assholes brought with them this time. His answer was plainly obvious.
In fact, it seemed a lot of them were of the same mind, but not choosing to voice it. Starfire looked motivated and determined. Wonder Girl looked the same, but with a lot more relief involved, more than likely itching to hit someone, and guess who decided to volunteer? Kid Flash had shut up, but was looking serious. Terra was a little uncertain, but she was keeping herself standing tall, willing to go with whatever they decided. Beast Boy did the miraculous and read the room, standing tall and dropping the teasing. Raven…looked the same.
But Red was the center of attention here, and he took it all with stride. Letting a wry smile curve his lips, "We're going to go do this, aren't we?"
"We? Aren't you suppose to stay home?" Beast Boy pointed out, raising his eyebrows knowingly and proving that maybe he was still bad at reading the atmosphere.
Red, to his credit, didn't let that bother him though he favored the shapeshifter with a knowing look. "What the 'rents don't know won't hurt me."
"They called it a night?" Cyborg found himself asking, raising his only remaining eyebrow.
"Later than they knowingly do," the currently unmasked teen replied, shrugging his shoulders. Then he put on his serious face. "We're only going to get one chance at this because if we fail, there won't be a planet Earth to call home."
"So let's go kick some ass," Wonder Girl declared, suddenly clad in that red leotard and gold armor ensemble too. Girl could clean up quick.
With a sharp nod to the armored blonde, Red Robin declared, "Titans, go."
It wasn't surprising that they would be met with the barrels of plasma rifles.
It wasn't all that long ago the Justice League had fought on New Tamaran. That meeting had soured quickly and had ended even less ideally. That didn't even take into consideration the losses the Tamaraneans had suffered, their small numbers dwindling even further.
The fight before the World Engine went without saying as well.
There were some repairs made to the Tamaranean camp. Ships that had managed to survive Despero's devastation of the island were stationed around the camp now, the ones in better shape lifting up into the air, no doubt to use their weapons on the League. Others were in various states of being repaired, or being torn down to be used as spare parts. There were scorch marks across the land as well.
And the Grand Leader Blackfire emerged from the ranks of her people, fury on her face. "Leave! Now!" she demanded as she reached her front lines, floating above her warriors as her cape whipped wildly behind her. It was like an indication of how irate she was.
Superman held his hands up, a gesture of non-violence he hoped would stay the command for battle. "We mean you no harm!" he called out to the Grand Ruler. "We only wish to talk."
"The same way you did when you were last here?" Blackfire seethed. "I decline. Now depart before I have my ships fire upon you."
"This went well," Zatanna remarked.
"As well as a goth kid shopping in a Banana Republic," Flash agreed.
Superman ignored the commentary. "We come with a matter that concerns us all, Grand Ruler." While he wasn't a fan of such grandiose titles, he would willingly swallow tongue if it opened a dialogue. "Earth is in danger and it needs your help."
Blackfire snorted in derision. "A planet that wishes death on my people wants my help? Such ridiculousness! What could possibly be so grave that Earth's protectors come crawling to me?"
"The Kalanorian Fleet has arrived," Diana answered as she positioned herself next to Superman. "Even now, the Thanagarian Legion and the Green Lantern Corp are in battle, but they are suffering heavy losses. It is only a matter of time until their lines are broken."
"Let them break," the dark-haired Tamaranean shrugged. "If they reach New Tamaran, we will show the Kalanorians what it is like to face true warriors."
"Alright, that's enough," John cut in. "You have your pride, I get it, but look around you. The leader of the Kalanorian Fleet decimated you. You still haven't fully recovered from that battle and you know it. I can see it on the faces of your people."
Superman glanced at the present Tamaraneans and the Green Lantern wasn't wrong. They looked tired, worn out. The constant battles they had suffered had taken a toll on them.
Whatever humor that was on Blackfire's face vanished in an instant. "You have…how do the humans do it? Ah, yes, I will count to five and if you have not left these sovereign lands, you will be fired upon. One…"
"Whether you like it or not, you are a part of Earth now," Diana pressed. "Whatever happens to this planet will affect your people."
"Two…"
"This is a waste of time," John grunted. "She would rather let her people die than do what she can to save them, all for that ego of hers."
"To the contrary, I care deeply for my people. I cannot say the same about Earth's own people to their own kind," Blackfire shot back. "Three…"
"Then if you cared, you would do everything in your power to stop the planet-destroying cannon Despero has aimed right at Earth," John responded heatedly. "The very one I'm certain destroyed Tamaran."
There was a pause. Many Tamaraneans looked to each other, a sense of dread appearing on their orange faces. Others began looking up to Blackfire, waiting for her response.
There was hesitation on her features. "You…speak of the Py'tar Cannon?" she attempted to clarify.
"Yeah, and Despero used Mars as a demonstration of its power not that long ago. He hasn't used it yet, obviously, but it's only a matter of time." John raised his ring hand up, careful not to activate it in case it was taken as a threat. "I'm in constant contact with the other Green Lanterns even now. The battle isn't going well."
"The way I see it," Zatanna suddenly spoke up, "you're on the verge of losing another planet and probably what's left of your people as well. If Despero wins, Earth, Tamaran, it all goes extinct."
Extinction. Yeah, that was a good word for what they were fighting against. If they couldn't marshall every possible person that could fight, a mass genocide the universe had never seen before would occur. It wasn't just humans, or Tamaraneans that would die out; he was the Last Son of Krypton, so Krypton's people would finally be extinct as well. The same for Mars should J'onn parish. No doubt Despero would turn his attention to the Thanagarians for their resistance here, the same with the Green Lantern Corp. The whole universe would pay for Despero's wrath if they failed here.
So naturally, that was when things became worse.
John tilted his head, staring right at his ring. He seemed to be absently staring at it before his eyes sharpened. "We've got incoming!" he announced. "The Kalanorians have broken through the Thanagarian lines and are entering the atmosphere."
Many heads tilted up to gaze up into the sky. There was cloud cover, but there was something ominous about the sky now. Lowering his head to return his attention back to Blackfire, Superman said, "We're going to meet them now. You can either help, or watch as your second home is destroyed. The choice is yours."
John raised himself up into the air, his green aura glowing around them. "I can see them," he reported. "Get ready for the fight of your lives."
Glancing back up to the clouds, Superman was just in time to see one of the clouds suddenly flash with a purple light, followed by several more. Whatever it was, it was passing through the clouds without much struggle.
Not willing to wait, the Kryptonian launched himself straight up into the air, heading right for whatever the Kalanorians were throwing at them. Diana and John were right behind him, the three of them rushing up to fight off this latest threat.